Anne Crocker wrote:
> ...John Jr is listed close by as "other free"
> 
> What does that mean?

John Jr., is "free" meaning not a slave, not indentured, not in servitude.  And,
John Jr., doesn't "fit", in the opinion of the census taker, into the other
categories listed.  For example, if the categories were white and slave, but
John was listed as "other" then he might have been a free negro, an Indian,
mixed breed, mulatto, chinese, spanish, Portuguese, middle eastern, Melungeon,
or whatever the census taker thought didn't "fit" the categories.  

Also, it might not have been the census taker making the interpretation.  It
might have been whoever the census taker was interviewing who led the census
taker to believe John was "other."  

Might even have been some miscommunication due to cultural and language
differences between the census taker and the person being interviewed.  John
might not have been present for the census taker to see and question.  Imagine a
census taker born in Ireland interviewing an elderly person born in France who
came to America with her grandchildren and barely spoke English.  There may have
been some miscommunications.

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